February4,2010

Today, Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09) reaffirmed his commitment to restoring fiscal discipline and reducing our nation’s deficit by voting for pay-as-you-go legislation. The legislation ensures that all new spending is paid for and does not add to the deficit.

“I supported pay-as-you-go legislation in the 1990s and I strongly support it now,” said Congressman Adam Smith. “In order to restore our economy and ensure long term, sustainable economic viability we must reign in government spending and reduce the federal deficit. PAYGO helped to take us from deficits to surpluses in the 1990s, and it will do so again”

The PAYGO bill passed today is a critical part of Congressional efforts to restore fiscal discipline. It is based upon the bipartisan PAYGO law that was in place in the 1990s and helped turn massive deficits into record surpluses. The 1990s PAYGO law was allowed to expire in 2002, which contributed to the dramatic turnaround from a surplus of $236 billion in 2000 to average deficits of more than $443 billion annually for the past 8 years.

PAYGO laws will once again help protect against reckless, debt-financed tax cuts and spending increases, while ensuring that we prioritize investments in critical areas like job creation, education and health care that will strengthen our economy.